Kirsch orders her on top of the ball, and she dives into position with an “Uh!” Keeping it beneath her feet and her arms locked, she proceeds to “tuck,” bending her knees toward her chin and rolling the ball forward to achieve something like an upside-down crunch. Kirsch begins to chant: “Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven!” After 20 reps, the cheerful expression has drained from Upton’s face. Kirsch barks, “Hold the last one!” and Upton seems to lose her resolve. “Wait,” she says. “I can’t.”

“Hips up higher, please!”

She steadies her plank position.

“Feel that in your belly?”

She nods, her stomach tense, a bit of sweat on her forehead, a look of determination on her face.

She was a super popular search term in 2013:

In 2012, she was the fourth-most-popular search on Yahoo—just behind Election, iPhone5, and Kim Kardashian.

She didn't deal well with the loser boneheads online saying she's fat (who would?), but eventually had a sense of humor about it:

“It was hard at first,” she admits of hearing such rumblings. “You sit there and you’re like ‘Is something wrong with me?’ ” But she’s learned to ignore her critics—and come to regard her healthy body as a point of pride. “The things that they’re rejecting are things that I can’t change. I can’t change my bra size. They’re natural! I can work out and I can stay healthy and motivated, but I can’t change some things. I really just live my life. I love my body. It’s what God gave me! I feel confident with myself, and if that inspires other women to feel confident with their bodies, great.”

It doesn’t hurt, by the way, that Upton has a sense of humor about this subject. She deadpans, “It’s kind of funny to think, Oh, wow, the news is talking about whether I’m fat or not.”

She had her eye on the career prize of being a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model EARLY:

By eighteen she had decamped to New York, where, after a year with the modeling agency Elite, she decided she wasn’t moving fast enough toward her goal: the cover of Sports Illustrated. She cold-called the front desk at IMG—and did enough persuasive talking to arrange a meeting with a scout, who introduced her to the agency’s senior vice president, Ivan Bart.

No Carl's Jr. cheeseburgers in Kate's diet!:

When it comes to meals, “I’m not, like, a robot,” Upton says. “I have different rules at different times.” Following Kirsch’s advice to eat “anything that flies or swims,” she sticks to chicken or fish, plus veggies. Which means that famous commercial of her sensually devouring a Carl’s Jr. cheeseburger? “No,” she says, shaking her head. “I can’t do that.”

She's still single. Also, seems to be couchsurfing in NYC:

The gossip pages regularly buzz with rumors about Upton’s love life, but she tells me she’s single: “My work seems to be my priority at this point in my life.” She just moved out of her apartment in the Flatiron district (“my lease was up”), and is currently a nomad in New York, staying at the Mandarin Oriental hotel, with most of her stuff in storage.

And finally, coming attractions:

“I would love to have my own lingerie line,” she says. Building on her fledgling movie career (she’s had small parts in The Three Stooges and Tower Heist), she is set to join a Nick Cassavetes comedy, The Other Woman, alongside Cameron Diaz and Leslie Mann. “Acting I’m very interested in,” she acknowledges and laughs. “I’m American—more is more!”

About Brandon Wenerd...
Brandon Wenerd is BroBible's senior editor, guru of @brotips, and director of strategic partnerships. He joined BroBible in the fall of 2009 after graduating from Penn State. When he’s not writing, Brandon enjoys fishing, Phish, Philly sports, Dewey Beach, supporting live music, hot sauce, and beer. E-mail him with post ideas and news tips: brandon@brobible.com.